Headwear

ABSTRACT

A bill  3  or stiffening member for a bill for headwear  1,  such as a baseball cap, having first and second opposed surfaces and including a retaining means  9  arranged to automatically retain the bill in either of a first curved state in which the first side of the bill is convex and the second side concave and a second, oppositely, curved state in which the first side is concave and the second side is convex when the bill it urged towards the first or second states respectively. The retaining means may be a curved, resilient, elongate member such as a rod  9.  The retaining means may be secured to a flexible sheet of material  6.  The sheet of material may also be resilient.

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a bill for headwear, headwear includinga bill and a stiffening member for a bill for headwear.

BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION

Baseball caps include a bill. The bill may be substantially flat, but isoften more desirably curved. Reversible baseball caps are known whichmay be turned inside out to display the other of two different designspresented on opposite sides of the cap. Where a reversible baseball caphas a curved bill then the curve in the bill must be reversed when thecap is turned inside out so as to maintain the correct appearance of thecap.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,408,443 discloses a reversible baseball cap. The bill ofthe cap is formed from a soft or rigid visor material sandwiched inbetween layers of fabric material. The visor material is partially cutthough from opposite sides at spaced apart intervals across its width.The cuts are intended to allow the material, and thus the bill of thecap, to maintain a curved shape when bent along the cut lines and soallow the bill to adopt an appropriately curved shape when the hat isturned inside out. In practice, though, provision of a cut visormaterial does no more than allow the bill to be deformed, and so conformthe shape of the edge of the cap. It does not allow any significantdegree of curvature to be maintained. Further, as the visor materialdeforms more easily at the position of the cuts the bill is in effectformed from a series of flat portions hinged together which does notlend the cap an attractive appearance.

Embodiments of the present invention seek to address these problems.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to an aspect of the present invention there is provided a billfor headwear, the bill having first and second opposed surfaces andcomprising a retaining means arranged to automatically retain the billin either of a first curved state in which the first side of the bill isconvex and the second side concave and a second, oppositely, curvedstate in which the first side is concave and the second side is convexwhen the bill is urged towards the first or second states respectively.

According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided astiffening member for a bill of headwear, the stiffening membercomprising a body having first and second opposed surfaces andcomprising a retaining means arranged to automatically retain the bodyin either of a first curved state in which the first side of thestiffening member is convex and the second side concave and a second,oppositely, curved state in which the first side is concave and thesecond side is convex when the stiffening member is urged towards thefirst or second states respectively.

Provision of the retaining means enables the bill or stiffening memberto be stably retained in one of two opposite states of curvature,enabling the appearance of a reversible cap incorporating the bill orstiffening member to be maintained in either of its two states.

The body of the stiffening member may comprise a flexible sheet ofmaterial. The sheet may be continuous, and the material may beresilient. The material may be a plastics material.

The retaining means may comprise a curved elongate member and may have asubstantially circular cross-section. The elongate member may beresilient. The elongate member may be rotatably secured to the bill orbody of the stiffening member to enable it to rotate relative to thebill or body as the bill or body is urged between the first and secondcurved states.

The elongate member may be secured along an edge of the body of thestiffening member. The elongate member may be secured to the bill orbody of the stiffening member by any suitable means. These include bystitches, by clips, by over moulding the body of the stiffening memberover the elongate member, by forming a moulded pathway in the body ofthe stiffening member to receive the elongate member and by associatinga flexible tube with the stiffening member and placing the elongatemember in the flexible tube.

In other embodiments the elongate member is secured to the bill whichmay or may not include an additional stiffening member. The elongatemember could be secured to the bill by any suitable means including bystitching and by forming a pocket or hem with fabric forming the billfor receiving the elongate member.

Two or more elongate members may be provided.

The bill or stiffening member may be incorporated into headwear, such asa baseball cap. The headwear may be reversible and may carry differentdesigns on opposed surfaces and so may be worn in normal or reversedconfigurations to selectively reveal either of the two designs to theoutside of the headwear.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In order that the invention may be more clearly understood embodimentsthereof will now be described, by way of example only, with reference tothe accompanying drawings, of which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a baseball cap;

FIG. 2 is a part cut-away view of the baseball cap of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the baseball cap of FIG. 1 turned insideout, but without the bill reversed;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the baseball cap of FIG. 1 turned insideout, with the bill reversed;

FIG. 5 is a part cut-away view of the bill of the cap of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 shows the stiffening member of the bill of the cap of FIG. 1 in afirst state;

FIG. 7 shows an alternative stiffening member in a second state;

FIG. 8 shows the rod of the stiffening members of FIGS. 6 and 7;

FIG. 9 shows an alternative stiffening member in a first state;

FIG. 10 shows the stiffening member of FIG. 9 in a second state; and

FIG. 11 shows another stiffening member in a first state.

Referring to the drawings, in which like reference numerals are used todenote corresponding components throughout, there is shown a reversiblebaseball cap 1 of conventional appearance. The cap comprises a crownportion 2, intended to fit over a wearer's head, and a bill 3 projectingfrom an edge of the crown portion 2.

The crown portion 2 is formed from a number of double layered fabricpanels stitched together along seams 4. One layer of fabric carries onedesign, in the illustrated example a polka dot design, and the otherlayer presents a different design, in this case a star design. At anyone time one design is visible to the outside of the cap, and the otherto the inside. Towards the centre of and of each side of the crownportion 2 there is a button 5.

Variations are possible. The cap could be produced from suitablematerials other than fabric. The panels may comprise more than twolayers of material, or could be formed from a single layer of materialbearing different designs, or simply different solid colours, onopposite sides.

The bill 3 is curved and the cap is intended to be worn with the billcurved in the manner shown in FIG. 1, with the upper surface of thebill, the surface directed towards the crown portion rather than awayfrom it, forming a convex curve. The bill is formed from a stiffeningmember covered in fabric 7. The fabric covering respective oppositesides of the stiffening member carries the same design as the fabricexposed to the corresponding side of the crown portion 2. The layers offabric 7 on opposite sides respectively of the stiffening member arestitched together around the edges of the stiffening member along seams8.

The stiffening member comprises a sheet 6 of flexible, resilientplastics material. Any suitable plastics material may be used, forexample polypropylene. It is desirable that the material does not sufferfrom stress cracking. A thickness in the range 0.5 to 5 mm is suitable.For sheets towards the thicker end of this range foamed materials arepreferred so as to maintain lightness and flexibility. Other suitablematerials could be used, for example cardboard. Along the free edge ofthe plastic sheet which will lie towards the front edge of the bill,most remote from the crown portion of the cap, a curved, resilient rod 9is secured to the sheet by stitches 10. The resilient rod is preferablyformed from a suitable metal such as tempered steel and in theillustrated example it has a diameter of approximately 2 mm. Othermaterials, or indeed other elongate members, with appropriate propertiescould be used. It is necessary for the rod or other elongate member toretain its curved shape and yet to flex sufficiently to enable thestiffening member to be moved between oppositely curved states. The rodextends over substantially the whole length of the side of the sheetmaterial to which it is attached. The stitches 10 are formed by a Nylonthread, extend around the rod and through a series of aperturesextending along the edge of the sheet material and permit the rod 9 torotate along its length relative to the sheet material. The stitches 10could be continuous or separate.

In other embodiments a similar rod could be secured to the opposite edgeof the sheet member too, see FIG. 7. Or a rod could be secured at someposition on the surface of the sheet material between its opposite edgesor in a slot or elongate aperture formed in the material.

As the rod 9 is curved it holds the sheet material 6 and thus the bill 3of the cap 1 in a curved state. The rod 9 is produced with the desireddegree of curvature it is intended to impart to the bill. If the bill 3is deflected, for example manually, to force it to adopt an oppositecurvature the rod 9 rotates within the stitches until it takes up astable position in which it acts to maintain the sheet material, andthus the bill, in an opposite state of curvature. The resilience of therod facilitates movement of the sheet material between opposite curvedstates and provides an over centre retaining action such that thestiffening member is bi-stable and will remain in either of twooppositely curved states.

Thus, in use, when the cap is reversed, the curvature of the bill may bereversed.

FIG. 1 shows the cap in one state. FIG. 2 shows the same cap with thecrown turned inside out and the cap turned over to show the alternatedesign, but with the bill in its original state of curvature. FIG. 3shows the cap after the curvature of the bill has been reversed so thatits upper surface (as intended to be worn) is again convex. The processmay of course be reversed and the cap brought back to the state shown inFIG. 1.

FIGS. 9 and 10 show another embodiment of a stiffening member. In thisembodiment the rod 9 is secured to the sheet 6 by way of a series ofspaced apart metal spring clips 11. The clips grip opposite sides of thesheet material 6 and define an passage between the clip and the edge ofthe sheet material through which the rod extends and within which therod can rotate. Projections 12 are formed on the edge of the sheetmember towards opposite ends of the rod 9 to stop the rod from slidingout of the clips.

FIG. 11 shows another embodiment of a stiffening member. This embodimentis moulded from a resilient plastics material and comprises a sheet 6 ofmaterial with an upstanding flap 13 along one of its longer edges. Theflap is shaped to retain the curvature of the sheet. If the curve of thesheet is reversed the flap will flip over to the other side of the sheetand thus retain the sheet in this opposite state of curvature.

The above embodiments are described by way of example only. Manyvariations are possible without departing from the scope of theinvention as defined in the appended claims.

1. A bill for headwear, the bill having first and second opposedsurfaces and comprising a bi-stable retaining means arranged toautomatically retain the bill in either of a first curved state in whichthe first side of the bill is convex and the second side concave and asecond, oppositely, curved state in which the first side is concave andthe second side is convex when the bill is urged towards the first orsecond states respectively.
 2. A bill as claimed in claim 1 wherein theretaining means comprises a curved elongate member.
 3. A bill as claimedin claim 1 wherein the elongate member has a substantially circularcross-section.
 4. A bill as claimed in claim 2 wherein the elongatemember is resilient.
 5. A bill as claimed in claim 2 wherein theelongate member is rotatably secured to the bill to enable it to rotaterelative to the bill as the bill is urged between the first and secondcurved states.
 6. A bill as claimed in claim 5 wherein the elongatemember is secured to the body of a stiffening member comprised in thebill.
 7. A bill as claimed in claim 6 wherein the elongate member issecured along an edge of the body of the stiffening member.
 8. A bill asclaimed in claim 2 wherein the elongate member is secured to the bill orbody of the stiffening member by stitches.
 9. A bill as claimed in claim2 comprising two or more elongate members.
 10. Headwear comprising abill as claimed in claim
 1. 11. A baseball cap comprising a bill asclaimed in claim
 1. 12. A baseball cap as claimed in claim 11 carryingdifferent designs on opposed surfaces and which may be worn in normal orreversed configurations to selectively reveal either of the two designsto the outside of the cap.
 13. A stiffening member for the bill ofheadwear, the stiffening member comprising a body having first andsecond opposed surfaces and comprising a bi-stable retaining meansarranged to automatically retain the stiffening member in either of afirst curved state in which the first side of the stiffening member isconvex and the second side concave and a second, oppositely, curvedstate in which the first side is concave and the second side is convexwhen the stiffening member is urged towards the first or second statesrespectively.
 14. A stiffening member as claimed in claim 13 wherein thebody comprises a flexible sheet material.
 15. A stiffening member asclaimed in claim 13 wherein the retaining means comprises a resilient,curved elongate member.
 16. A bill as claimed in claim 15 wherein theelongate member is rotatably secured to the body of the stiffeningmember to enable it to rotate relative to the stiffening member as thestiffening member is urged between the first and second curved states.